March Madness

I love this time of year.

I was involved in a debate about sports recently, and through my own thoughts, confronted exactly what it is that I really like watching in a sport. It was an eye-opening realization. It occured to me that the most important thing in a sport, for me, are the moments where each game, each play, each hit or miss is amplified by the situation. I'll explain what I mean in with examples:

- Baseball: 162 game seasons are tearfully boring. I would really rather gouge my eye out than be forced to watch a season of baseball (well, until the middle of September or so, then it gets somewhat interesting with the pennant races). However, during the playoffs, and especially in those game 7 situations, I greatly enjoy the stuff.

- Hockey: I think the season is 84 games now. That's just way too long. Sometimes I watch specific matchups on Saturday night, but the same arguments apply. Even the playoffs, with 4 rounds of best of sevens gets old. I start interested, and sometimes I'll stay interested depending on the teams, but I'll usually be burnt out by the time the Stanley Cup rolls around. Give me the Olympic tournament, the World Juniors, or the Canada/World Cup any day.

- NBA Basketball: The games are at least more interesting to watch than baseball, but the season is still far too long. The skill disparity between NBA teams is the greatest in any of the major sports. The good teams beat the bad teams, and badly, over 90% of the time. Upsets are rare. There is absolutely no need to have such a long season to help decide the winner, nor to include so many teams in the playoffs. I'll watch the NBA finals, and that's about it.

- NFL Football: Now we're getting there. The nature of the beast is that almost every game matters. The division games more than most. 6 division games in a 16 game season means a lot of very important games, and with the average cutoff for the playoffs being about 10-6, every game counts. You can't lost too many games. Then the playoffs are win or out. I love the NFL!

- NCAA Football: Like the NFL, but on crack! For those teams (usually about 6-10 in the preseason) who are hopefuls to make the National Championship Game, every single game is key. ANY loss can end your dreams, and will at the least cripple you. 2 years ago, Michigan was the #1 seed and considered the favourite to make the big game. They lost the first game to Appalachian State (a Div II school, unheard of), and there was no longer any chance for them to make even the BCS, far less the National Championship Game. Anyway, you end up with every play of every game all season long being critical. I love the NCAA.

- NCAA Basketball: March Madness is truly sick. I love it. I'm not a huge fan during the regular season, mainly because there are a lot of yawner games, but March Madness changes all that. There are upsets every day, 16 games a day to start, and you have to win 6 games in a row against the best teams in the country to win it all. Last season's finals was one of the most epic games I have seen of all time. All four #1 seeds had made the Final Four. Memphis had a great team playing Kansas in the finals. Memphis had what seemed to be an unbeatable lead with just over 2 minutes remaining (I think 9 points), but then they choked in epic fashion. They missed something like 7 of 9 free throws, Kansas tied it up at the last moment, they went to overtime, and Memphis never recovered. Truly epic.

So what I love about sports is an atmosphere where every play matters. Where every great play becomes that much greater, where every mistake has the possibility of turning into a full-blown choke. That is why I love sports.

Until Next Time,
Fell